Broaden Your Horizons at the Asheville Art Museum

May 26th, 2014 by Corey A. Edwards

Whenever someone asks for suggestions of what to see in Asheville, one of the first things that comes to mind is the Asheville Art Museum.

Asheville, NC and the surrounding region of 24 counties has a lively art community and a rich art history. The Asheville Art Museum has permanent and rotating exhibits that detail and display this Western North Carolina art heritage as well as that of artists from outside the region.

The Asheville Art museum was founded in 1948 by local artists in the hopes of preserving and highlighting 20th and 21st century American art. The museum’s permanent collection contains more than 3,500 works in all mediums and over 4,000 architectural drawings including a major holding of Black Mountain College and Cherokee artists; the only collection of its type in the area.

Current exhibitions at the Asheville Art Museum include:

Take 10: Collectors’ Circle 10th Anniversary
This exhibition celebrates the gifts to the museum of the Asheville Art Museum’s Collectors’ Circle, including works of art from the Circles’ first 10 years.

Selections from the Permanent Collection: 140 Years of American Art
This exhibition presents highlights from the Asheville Art Museum’s permanent collection chronologically, allowing visitors to see the evolution of American art from the late 19th century to the early 21st century.

Ralph Burns: A Persistence of Vision — Photographs 1972-2013
The second solo exhibition of Burn’s work at the Asheville Art Museum, this show is a broader and more extensive look at the photographer’s work over the past 40 years, centered mainly but not exclusively on images of religion, ritual, and belief.

Pierre Daura: Modernist in the Mountains
Spanish born Pedro Francisco Daura y Garcia (1896-1976) was raised in Barcelona and studied in Paris but lived in the Shenandoah Valley near Lexington, Virginia from 1939 until his death in 1976. This exhibition focuses on painting he did in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The above list barely scratches the surface of the exhibits currently on display at the Asheville Art Museum, let alone those coming up later in the year, so, the next time you’re in Asheville, treat yourself to a visit.

The Asheville Art Museum

2 S. Pack Square, Asheville NC 28801
For a full list of exhibits and events – both current and upcoming – please visit: www.ashevilleart.org

Lodging for the Asheville Art Museum
However you choose to spend your time in and around Asheville, we hope you will call North Lodge on Oakland bed and breakfast inn your home away from home. Beautiful guest rooms and delicious breakfasts await you at our North Carolina Bed & Breakfast Inn. We would love to help you plan your trip, make reservations, and in any other way we can facilitate your exploration of our part of North Carolina!